SOLIDWORKS 2015 Basic Training: Interface 101
Hi. If you’re new to SOLIDWORKS, this is the first place to stop for SOLIDWORKS basic training. In this series of SOLIDWORKS video tutorials I help you learn and understand the interface, so you can minimize your mouse movements, maximize your productivity, and make use of all the conveniences of the SOLIDWORKS interface. Dig in! Click here to buy the SOLIDWORKS Essentials course, 5+ hours of video training to get you from level zero to working productive.
Here’s an excerpt from the course; I’ll publish more of it in this blog later on so subscribe to stay immediately posted…
SOLIDWORKS 2015 – Interface 101
Let’s begin by creating a new document. How do you do that? You can click the Document icon on the toolbar at the top of the screen:
Solidworks Basic Training: Interface 101 – New Document button
When you click that, the New SOLIDWORKS Document dialog window opens; here’s what it looks like:
Solidworks Basic Training: Interface 101 – Document Dialog Window
From this window, we have the option to create three different types of documents – a part document, an assembly document, or a drawing document. What do you need? Well, usually you start with a part document. This is where you can sketch designs, create 3D features from those sketches, and fit those features together into parts. An assembly document is where you assemble your parts together into a working model. A drawing document is where you create printable drawings of your work, so that you can, for example, share them with colleagues or print them.
Note the Advanced button at the bottom left of this dialog window; let’s click it. Here’s what the Advanced page looks like:
Solidworks Basic Training: Interface 101 – Advanced tab
From this tab you can choose the type of template you’re working with, as well as view some tutorials. Click on Novice to get back to the main page, and choose the Part document.
SOLIDWORKS creates the part document, and at this moment you can see many of the important parts of the working interface. The white area in the middle is known as the Graphic Area. This is where you perform most of your actions. That’s where we work with all types of documents (part, assembly and drawing).
Solidworks Basic Training: Interface 101 – graphic area
To be continued!
PS – Here’s the youtube playlist for SOLIDWORKS 2015 Basic Training! The first five videos provide a comprehensive overview of the SOLIDWORKS interface. These videos were filmed in SOLIDWORKS 2015. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx-VY2mDlK2ElKT2q1BhK_hm1nkha105d If you need earlier versions of SOLIDWORKS, my courses go back to SOLIDWORKS 2007, and I have free playlists, discs and downloadable courses for all these versions. Thanks!
(For the rest of my videos please go to www.youtube.com/videotutorials2)